We know, it’s almost that time of year yet again and you still haven’t even had time to write the Christmas gift list, nevermind get to the shops to buy them. Luckily, Amazon has discounted a whole host of its Alexa enabled devices such as the Echo Plus, the Echo Show which make perfect gifts for the gadget-crazed person in your life, or perhaps even just as a gift to yourself. The good news is that Amazon has discounted the devices in both the US and across the pond in the UK, so no one is being left out in the cold on this one.

It’s that time again where we take a look at the world of Android to check how the various flavors are performing. December’s figures show that the Android 8.0 Oreo is slowly gaining momentum as more devices get updated to the latest version of the Android operating system, with Nougat making strides in its efforts to catch Marshmallow.

Chief Product Officer for HMD Global, Juho Sarvikas, revealed this via a Twitter posting today. In order to participate in the beta testing, users can sign up at the Nokia phones beta labs site. Testing for the Nokia 8 took approximately one month to complete after the open beta period opened for that device. We will watch to see whether things go a bit smoother, and by extension quicker, for the Nokia 5.

Sarvikas also mentioned the open beta for the Nokia 6 was “coming soon.” Despite that commitment, Nokia 6 users responding on Twitter appeared to be quite upset by the fact the Nokia 5 has moved to beta testing first. Meanwhile, no word yet on the Nokia 3 which will be on a different development track thanks to the use of a MediaTek processor instead of a unit from Qualcomm like what the other devices have.

I’ll just get to the point with my little rant. If you’re going to sell an unlocked phone in the US, it needs to support all four major carriers – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile (and Sprint, I guess). There’s no excuse at this point to keep riding the GSM-only train and the companies that do should be blackballed until they change their tune. If a brand like Alcatel can easily sell the Idol 5S (above) on Amazon for $279.99 that’s compatible with all US carriers, why does OnePlus continue with their GSM-only nonsense in a market they heavily push themselves in? Are they really not aware that Verizon is the biggest and most popular carrier in the country? Two words… Laziness and incompetence.

Despite launching to mixed reviews, the emergence of Essential has proved exciting to smartphone consumers and blogger alike. Constructed out of premium materials and running an almost stock build of the Android OS coupled with the recent discount to $399, the Essential Phone is reckoned to be the smart person’s Pixel 2. Which is why when Andy Rubin took a leave of absence at the end of November due to allegations of inappropriate behavior, there were some concerns about the longevity of Essential. A little less than two weeks later, Essential’s CEO and founder has returned to his post.

“When is my phone getting the Oreo update?” is a question many are asking right now, with manufacturers sometimes being less than transparent with their answers. For Honor phone owners at least, there is some good news on the matter, thanks to the company’s CEO, George Zao, confirming a list of Honor handsets scheduled to get the Android 8.0 Oreo update.

Sources close to Samsung indicate the company is planning to make several improvements to the iris scanning function in their flagship smartphones and they will eventually deploy the technology to lower market tier devices. The first device that should benefit from this enhancement to iris scanning technology is expected to be the Galaxy S9. The sources indicate Samsung believes iris scanning is the safest, most secure option among fingerprint, facial recognition and iris scanning which is why the company is committing so strongly to the technology.

Remember when the Google Home Mini launched and its touch sensor had to be disabled by the search giant because it recorded everything regardless of whether a trigger word was spoken or not? Well, it seems that Google isn’t willing to give up on the feature entirely, with at least some of the functionality being brought back in the latest preview firmware.

It was just last week that Google announced that it had begun rolling out Android 8.0 Oreo to Android Wear devices, starting with the LG Watch Sport. Now the search giant has posted a list of Android Wear watches that are eligible for the OS upgrade. Join us below to find if your smartwatch is one of the chosen few.

HTC being in a mess with their finances is no secret, but things really just don’t seem to ever improve for the company. Their latest financials are reporting a pretty significant drop in revenue for November, down a sizable 26% from last year.

HTC’s revenues for the month were about $188 million, slipping from $200 million in October. That news is even worse when you factor in November being an incredibly good month for moving product thanks to Black Friday and holiday shopping.

If you’re rocking a OnePlus 5T, keep an eye out for the latest update that’s now rolling out from OnePlus. The update brings the device to Oxygen OS 4.7.4 (still on Android 7.1.1, however) with a few small fixes that should improve things for you.

Amazon is rolling out their Music Unlimited streaming service to more countries and bringing the Echo speaker lineup with it. This means more countries will be able to utilize Alexa and Amazon’s broad music catalog for streaming.

It’s been a busy week for Google, and not just because the search giant has weaponized the YouTube service in its argument with Amazon. We’ve also seen Android 8.0 begin rolling out to Android Wear devices, December’s security patch, the simultaneous release of Android Oreo Go and Android 8.1 becoming official, and now we have the final, production version of Android 8.1 Oreo being pushed via OTA to Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL phones signed up to the Android Beta Program and running Developer Preview 2.

The LG V30 is the smartphone manufacturer’s flagship device for markets around the world. Currently, the only variant available is a slightly upgraded LG V30+ that gets some extra onboard storage. LG has issued a press release indicating a new luxurious “LG Signature Edition” version of the V30 will be released in limited numbers to the South Korean market.

Earlier this week Qualcomm officially announced the Snapdragon 845 mobile processor at their conference being held in Hawaii. They have now released more details about the new features and improvements they are including in the Snapdragon 845 and what kinds of changes consumers may enjoy when they purchase a device with the new flagship level chip.